At its second Annual General Meeting held on 21 April, Nimal Gunewardena was elected President of the Public Relations Association of Sri Lanka, alongside a board comprising leading agency and corporate professionals. A founding director of PRASL, established in 2023, Gunewardena brings over five decades of experience in communications, marketing, and integrated marketing communications.

A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, he has previously led both the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing and the Accredited Advertising Agencies Association. During a recent visit, Farzana Baduel described him as Sri Lanka’s “Godfather of PR”.

Gunewardena emphasised the need to reposition public relations as a strategic discipline supporting national priorities, including digital transformation, sustainability, and foreign investment. PRASL aims to elevate professional standards, strengthen industry recognition, and nurture emerging talent across Sri Lanka’s evolving communications landscape.